Nurses striking

[Tui]

Also should add that 90% or

This right here is what is wrong with people and why my respect is dwindling.
Already the “we are better and therefore deserve more” is starting.
I couldn’t even get past the first few sentences before what you said showed how little you think of others.

I’m confused as to how you have come to that conclusion personally. For example, a band 5 staff nurse *is* highly skilled and specialised with a lot of responsibility and years of training. Some have been nurses for many years, some are working in ICU looking after the sickest patients in the hospital. They do deserve better than what they are getting right now. It’s not a race to the bottom. Wages across the board are crap but improving living standards for all is really beyond the remit of the RCN. If you took my comments personally that’s on you but it’s not controversial to point out that many health care professionals are highly skilled and not easily replaced. When they leave nursing to work in another field or go to Australia or NZ what are we going to do then?

You have a childcare bill because you have had a child and decided to return to work. It’s not compulsory.

fucking hell let’s just get the women back in the kitchen where they belong shall we?

I’m absolutely over this “xyZ isn’t comparable to nursing”
Plenty of degree educated people work in supermarkets etc because they need a job quickly when they graduate and in some areas the jobs for specific skills are simply not there
Can we not moan now about shitty customers, understaffing and the crap wages we have no choice but to just deal with because nurses have it worse?
Probs me being picky but I cannot stand hearing the phrase low skilled workers, it feels degrading

Retail is low skilled work. The people doing the work may not be low skilled, but the job they are doing is low skilled. A nurse can go work in a shop but the reverse isn’t true without substantial training. This is my point.
Also, we have far too many people going to university studying for useless degrees which don’t improve their employability but that’s a story for another day.

 

[intheindustry]

The army didn’t receive a pay rise for a good few year like many in the public sector. Ironically they can’t strike and have been pulled in to cover farming outbreaks, fire strikes, boarder control, ambulance strikes.
We don’t get what we want through striking and the government won’t be held to ransom.
I don’t deny the nhs is a money cesspit, staff feel underpaid, undervalued, broken, like they don’t get enough support but striking isn’t the answer. Do you think army personnel feel valued right now, do they deserve more money for taking on roles when other organisations need back up?
Yes nhs workers have had pay freezes for years and are feeling hugely affected by the cost of living crisis and are struggling but I don’t think striking will help.

 

[Snowjoke]

I think such comments can be clumsy but ultimately I'd like to live in a society where we pay our doctors and nurses more than supermarket workers. Tough shit to anyone who disagrees with me.

You can still make your point without bringing down other people though… the issue is with the NHS, not those that work in supermarkets like Aldi.

 

[onservantannie]

The fact of the matter is the whole country is on its backside - nobody’s wages have increased in line with inflation! Why should nurses be any different to the rest of us?? Oh, because they “save lives”? Not saving lives when they’re withdrawing their labour are they.

 

[JoeBloggs]

That’s because wages have stagnated
People of all working groups should demand and expect for for their valuable time
£30k was a reasonable salary when I graduated 20 years ago…it certainly isn’t now

Yes and I agree with that, but as the public on the same wages it is hard to accept that they are striking and refusing good increases when we have to just accept our wage. At the end of the day this is not an industry problem it is a problem for the whole of the UK, everyone needs a pay rise but where does the money come from especially for those who run small/medium businesses.

 

[anotheronebitesthedust.1]

I feel sorry for all those who will be sat in pain in a hospital bed, or deteriorating whilst this political stunt goes on.

Wow!!!
Patients are suffering hence why we are striking
We aren’t striking because it’s something fun to do

 

[klarakluckbag]

I don't understand why they don't just announce the return of the bursary?



That would be small change and would help the supply (in a couple of years).

Yes, I can't believe that they didn't realise what a catastrophic effect this would have on the recruitment of nursing and midwifery students. The drop-out rate has increased hugely, probably because students realise that they're going to incur huge debts during their studies and that they don't have the free time to get jobs to help with their costs. Then, when they do qualify, they're paid an insultingly low wage, and are expected to suck it up because their job is a "vocation".

 

[struggs123]

The wages thing for me is to increase recruitment and retention. There's a severe shortage and wages are one way to attract more people to the profession, I don't think what someone's paid is a reflection of their contribution to society or a reflection of how hard they work anyway- otherwise bloody influencers wouldn't be paid thousands for a social media post. Lots of us across different progressions, sectors and at different stages of our career are working in increasingly challenging jobs for decreasing wages and are experiencing a slip in standard of living.

I don't believe I worked harder as a nurse than others, but I do think for a graduate profession and for the conditions (which would improve if there were more staff) it is lowly paid compared to our contemporaries across the globe, and in relation to other jobs that require similar quals. I don't think we work harder and are more important serves us well, in fact it does the opposite; we should be reminding people it's a job and not a vocation that people will do for lower wages because they're passionate about helping people. I do think in some ways that creates barriers.

 

[gigilouxx]

It’s not the fact they want higher wages. They could’ve been less up their own arses by wording it such as “Look if Aldi can pay their workers what they’re worth why can’t the government?” But no, it’s just been snidey remarks about people who work in supermarkets. Those people in supermarkets don’t dictate nurses and doctors wages, not one member of any sector that’s been brought into this has a say in what the NHS wages are.

 

[Polythene Pam]

People are minterpreting highly skilled to mean hard work. Skilled jobs just mean specific skill sets which take longer to train in. For example it takes a time to train as a surgeon/engineer/electrician versus a retail or food service position where training is largely much quicker. All jobs are hard just in different ways.

Skilled workers are just more difficult and more expensive to replace because it takes longer to accumulate the skills needed.

Right?! During the pandemic my local Wilko created self service tills by just turning the regular till around, so shoppers can just use the tills with no training. I couldn't do anything a nurse does without training I don't think.
Doesn't mean I don't think retail is a really hard job. I am well aware it is.

being needed isn't unique to nurses.

This is such a straw man. No one said its unique to nurses.

I'll repeat what many others have said - unionise and ask for better conditions if you're not happy with your pay or terms and conditions. Not allowed to strike? Take some other kind of action.

I've had a 20% payrise in the last two years. Employment doesn't have to be on crappy terms and for crappy pay just because we live in the UK, there's a war, there was a pandemic, etc etc etc. It's literally all propaganda designed to keep you down.

Liz Truss is entitled to £115k a year to support her office costs. So are all the other ex-PMs and they all claim almost the max. There is plenty of money. Seriously.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Parents of pre schoolers in Norway also spend an average of £240 a month on childcare fees. My sons nursery cost nearly £600 a month and he only goes 2 days a week!!

“Taxing others” nurses pay taxes too

People will hate me for this probably. But you chose to have a child so why should that be taken into account? Loads of people get paid similar to nurses and have children.
We were actually talking about this in my job this week. The full time staff where I work get 29.5k a year and one person was saying 2/3rd of their monthly wage goes on childcare.
It’s not just this that makes me think parents are entitled sometimes, it’s the wanting Christmas of as they have a child or what’s happening in my job at the moment with the parents always being late and the manager saying it’s because they have kids. Kids shouldn’t be an excuse, everyone else has a life as well .

 

[popb1tch]

I hugely support the strikes…of all industries! It completely sticks in my throat that in less than a generation this government have made living (not owning) in a house unaffordable for many working families, whilst shareholders, the owning classes and billionaires grow their wealth exponentially

However I fear for what will happen because I know the government do not care that people will die and they will not blink first…

In terms of the future of the NHS and social care we need to accept that the natural human lifespan is 70-75 years and anything beyond that is either miserable or unaffordable for most under a Tory government. Old people need to shuffle off at the appropriate time to pass on housing stock and wealth to their descendants (not me, I have no family left)

 

[gigilouxx]

I think I read the other day that something ridiculous like 60% of people on the nursing degrees don’t even finish it for whatever reason, which is bloody sad considering. They’ve got away with paying public services lower than they should for years by calling the courses “vocation” as that makes it seem like less of a profession. That goes for carers too, because there’s no way in hell I’d work in a care home for £9.50 an hour not a chance

 

[gigilouxx]

I wish they’d do away with this low skilled shit. Because the above poster is exactly how it makes people feel, as though they’re lesser. Also I’m working in Costa on Boxing Day with a 6am start so if anyone wants to pray for me I’ll take it

 

[popb1tch]

Completely agree. We have working people pointing the finger at each other while the politicians dine on their subsidised lunches and hand out lucrative contracts to their mates. That's embarrassing.

This is completely my point!
Everyone should expect more….toilet cleaners, retail workers…everyone…the minimum wage should be a lot higher than it is….landlords should be out of business, landowners should be heavily taxed…when you look at my background I should in theory be a true blue Tory….instead I’m a raging socialist….I literally cannot believe how social mobility has ground to a halt in my working lifetime….

Yeah I can’t lie I’m getting abit fed up of this attitude as well. It’s alright for other companies to pay peanuts for workers we couldn’t live without, like the police, the prison service etc but mention that you can’t understand how someone can’t live off over 30k a year then ur in the wrong

the fact that coppers can’t strike is a national disgrace
almost as obscene as their starting salary which is paltry

 

[struggs123]

Reading that article made me cry these are truly the things the nhs go thou each day I am a hca in a hospital when u have 6 people climbing out of bed 2 on end life you have multiple discharges that your have to go thou the things with check there body maps family members asking questions bed pans every 5 minutes being verbal attack but they got dementia and your short staffed it’s mentally exhausting and physically everyone who says the nhs shouldn’t strike I ask you to spend a day with us and experience us trying to do our best but we are so short we cant

HCAs are criminally underpaid (as we all are, but I cannot comprehend people who do so much on such a terrible wage). I have left the NHS for now but healthcare assistants kept me going throughout my career, so so so underappreciated but so so so important both for colleagues and patients.

I keep in touch with a lot of people I have worked with over the years and its sad (but understandable) to see so many fantastic, compassionate, dedicated people leaving because they cannot do their jobs or they have burnt out. Its criminal how this has been allowed to happen and it makes me so scared about the future of accessible healthcare in this country.

 

[miss n thropy]

A Tory govt will never do that, while I do agree with it. So many things could release funds but they just won’t.

you are quite right, but when people state the money isn't there, I just wanted to say that it is, but it’s in the hands of tax avoiders.

 

[Sunflower-Rose]

I personally think the whole pay structure of the NHS needs looking into.

What concerns me about Nurses pay is that it’s not just going be a pay increase FOR nurses…..
Most of our nurses are band 5 or 6 on the pay scale….if the nurses get the pay rise they deserve, in effect so will every bugger else at band 5 / band 6 and above…….then all those ‘managers’ of managers and pen pushers will all get a pay rise and in effect, those who do the least and make all the shit decisions that negatively affect the NHS will just get richer…..
Nurses, CSW’s, HCA, domestics, receptionists, porters etc should all be paid separately from the current banding pay scale…..

 

[I_Like_Tractors]

It was nurses that said they are using foodbanks. It was nurses who said that they could earn more at Aldi. It was not one or 2 nurses that said it. Nurses on this thread laughed at someone in this thread that said that they worked at Tesco.
You guys compared yourself to Aldi. Not us little people now you're all mad because you realise how you sound.
Has anyone on this thread has said nurses shouldn't be paid more? I certainly haven't. My stance is you absolutely deserve a payrise (as do most people) and I actually think around 7% is reasonable along with your whatever changes you want to your working conditions. I didn't, and still don't, agree with your reasons and for the theatrical display of nurses in the workhouse as if everyone else is raking it in.
I have no problem with teachers, rail and bus strikes, because they didn't go on like the nurses.
Kinda on the fence with junior doctors. I mean 35% is so unrealistic it's crazy.

No, us guys collectively did not. You are the one obsessed with mentioning Aldi and trying to belittle everyone on this thread who thinks they should earn a wage in relation to the training, risks, decision making their job entails.

Why shouldn't someone who works hard want to not have to struggle to get by? In any profession.

 

[gigilouxx]

There are comments on social media by NHS staff making comments about the general public, calling them “pan bangers” as well, as though the general public have any say in what their wage is.

I agree they work hard, they deserve a pay rise, they absolutely should be working in better conditions both for themselves and the patients. But what I absolutely can not get behind is someone saying how they “can’t live” on a salary of £33k a year, I don’t support striking as it’s the most vulnerable that will suffer. I also find it really unfair that the police have a completely shocking starting salary, are overworked and aren’t allowed to strike? 20k a year for a starting officer, fuck that